In a move that doesn’t shy away from the politics of it all, the Bengal CID has summoned TMC leaders Abhishek Banerjee and Kunal Ghosh over claims that MLAs’ signatures were faked in the LoP process. It is going to be a high-pressure session as they put the documents, the timelines, and the claims to the test.
What the CID is after
You have a resolution at the heart of it, one that puts Sovandeb Chattopadhyay in the seat of Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly. The CID has put an FIR on the table and its Special Investigation Team is on the job after they spotted some inconsistencies in the way things were signed off on.
Two of the TMC’s own MLAs have come forward to say the May 6, 2026 resolution was put together out of thin air, and that they only put their names to the register in due course. Then there are 14 or so signatures done in block letters, which has the investigators raising an eyebrow.
They have already put 13 of those MLAs on the record. On the other side, the Trinamool has let go of Sandipan Saha and Ritabrata Banerjee for being at odds with the party, a sign of some friction in the legislative wing while this is all going on.
Summons and the plan for today
Word from the CID is that Abhishek Banerjee will be in for a sit-down with them around 12 on June 14, 2026. Kunal Ghosh is to be in later in the day, about 3 p.m.
It seems the officials didn’t get what they wanted from Banerjee last time out and have asked for some papers. He was in for just over five and a half hours on June 13 at Bhabani Bhawan in Alipore.
An officer put it down to how the day goes, but both could end up in the same room. The agency wants to see if the statements and the signatories on these various submissions for the Opposition leadership all add up.
A look at the paper trail
Back on May 9, 2026, Banerjee let the Speaker know the TMC had made up its mind on who would be in charge. The Principal Secretary wrote in on the 18th for the minutes and the backing of the MLAs.
Then on the 20th, Banerjee put in a copy of the resolution book and an attendance list for a 70-MLA meeting from the 6th. But by the 27th, two of his MLAs were on the record saying there was no such resolution on the 6th and they had only signed on the 19th.
There is another side to the story. On that 6th of May, the TMC got together at Banerjee’s in Kalighat and put up a show of hands for Chattopadhyay. No formal filing right then and there. You had the swearing-ins on the 13th and 14th, and then a nudge from the Assembly Secretariat.
A document with 70 signatures in support of Chattopadhyay was turned in after a get-together on the 19th. The rub is in the details between all of this, and that is where the CID is zeroing in.
So far
These are the points the CID has put out there:
– 5.5 hours of grilling for Banerjee on June 13 at Bhabani Bhawan
– 13 MLAs have been recorded on the matter of block-lettered signatures
– Two TMCs say the May 6 resolution is a fabrication
– Saha and Banerjee (Ritabrata) have been put on the shelf
More than meets the eye
It is not just about a signature; it is about whether the Opposition’s appointments hold water. The complaint even brings in Asima Patra and Nayna Bandyopadhyay as Deputy LoP and Firhad Hakim as Chief Whip, and they are all part of the same file.
For the government, it is a matter of housekeeping and discipline. For the Assembly, you have to make sure the order of events, the minutes and the endorsements are in line when you put them under a lens.
Where we are headed
Today is about making the accounts and the paperwork jive. A CID officer says Banerjee has been told to produce certain things. If you still have your differences, you can expect more of a head-on approach as the SIT makes its case.
It will come down to a document-by-document check against what has already been said to see if the resolutions and the dates can stand up to it.
